I don’t exaggerate when I say Eric LaRocca may be the most promising horror author out there at the moment.
While he is becoming well-known for his collections of novellas, Wretch shows that he has truly arrived and has something to say.
We follow Simeon, a recent widow who, in his grief, stumbles upon a support group known as The Wretches, but what he finds is far more than he could have dreamed or feared.
The most compelling part of Wretch, is how LaRocca is able to craft a character so sympathetic but also truly unlikeable at times.
Despite his husband’s death we start to peel the onion and find out things aren’t as they always seem plus you add Simeon’s ex-wife into the mix and their child and you have what could feel like, in other hands, quite the mellow drama.
The thing with LaRocca’s work is, like one of the best Clive Barker, he isn’t afraid to get nasty with his stories and make them truly horrific. Whether it’s a line of dialogue or a nightmarish scenario, he’s willing to go there.
While Simeon spirals, Wretch only gets more compelling and it’s conclusion has an air of ambigiousness about it which I appreciated as often authors get caught up in wanting to tie everything up in a bow by the final chapter.
Wretch is my favourite read of 2026, to date.
Wretch by Eric LaRocca is available in Hardback and e-book formats from Titan Books.
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